Len Goodman, 68, the head judge on Strictly Come Dancing , likes his
weekends filled with pubs, golf and family.

Old Strictly takes up a lot of time in my life, so it’s a good thing I love it. Even though the latest series finished in December I’m currently travelling all over the country with the live tour. We have the odd day to ourselves but it’s basically three weeks’ work straight off. Then next month I’ll head over to Los Angeles to judge the American show, Dancing with the Stars, until May.

Its when we get to September and both the US and UK shows are on simultaneously that I really have the weekend from hell – and I mean that in the nicest way possible. On Saturday the BBC likes me to get to the studio by about 1pm. These days we judges have our own dressing rooms, but when we first started back in 2004 I used to share one with Bruno and Craig. I don’t wear much make-up but they’d be titivating themselves for hours on end, sticking on blimming mascara and blusher and God knows what. There is a tremendous atmosphere backstage and a lot of nerves: I love the fact that Strictly is completely live as it means the dancers have no choice but to cope and carry on if anything goes wrong.

We judges will have a good old argument on the Saturday night show and then Bruno [also a DWTS judge] and I have to quickly get ourselves to Heathrow on Sunday to fly off to Los Angeles for three days. People say they don’t know how I do it but it sounds more gruelling than it is. It’s not terribly hard work sitting on a plane and they look after me splendidly over there. I don’t try and adjust to the different time zone between flights: I figure that as long as I’m awake when I’m doing the show, I can spend the rest of the time napping.

I’ll zoom back to England on the Thursday, so Friday is really my only day to recoup. I try to do nothing to get the batteries recharged for Saturday when the whole circus starts again.

I’m on hectic Strictly schedules for about nine months of the year one way or another, but I do absolutely nothing in June, July and August except chill out and enjoy myself. That’s my down time, to be with family and friends as much as possible and especially with my new wife Sue, who I married in December. We’d been going out for 10 years and knew each other for another 10 years before that, and I asked her on a whim back in October because there was no one else in the world that I wanted to be with. We didn’t want the wedding to be a big social affair, so we just hosted a little luncheon over Christmas for our friends and only told them we were getting married when they arrived. I’m terrible at keeping secrets but I really did myself proud with that one. It all went swimmingly well and we had a lovely lunch afterwards, then we ran off to St Lucia on New Year’s Day for a bit of sunshine.

Really though, I’m not much of a jet-setter and what I love more than anything on Saturday mornings is going up to the golf club near my home in Kent for a game with my mates. Sue will head off to the dance studio she manages with James [his son with former partner Lesley] from 8.30am until about 3pm – I used to go in too when I could but I kept being accused of poking my nose in and interfering, and I’d get grumpy at how they were teaching some particular step. It’s best if I leave them to get on with it. I ran the school for over 40 years and it’s their turn now.

I could definitely pass the Strictly judging baton on to James one day. He’s certainly got enough qualifications and he’s much more articulate and quick-witted than me. The thing with children is they’re a bit like baking a fruitcake: you throw all the ingredients in but you never know how they’re going to turn out. I think it is more from luck than judgment, but he turned out fabulous.

It’s really important to me to see as much of my family as possible, especially my old mum, who is 96 now. She only lives 15 minutes down the road and I often pop in to keep an eye on her at the weekend because like many old people, she tends not to eat. When Dad was alive Mum would be always cooking for him, but on her own she just tends to have half a sandwich, so we make sure she gets a good helping of fish and chips as often as possible. I love it when James and his girlfriend Sophie can join us and we can all go off to the pub or have a lovely meal at home.

I do watch what I eat – it’s not a vanity thing because I’m on the television but I like to stay as healthy as I can. I don’t believe in diets, though, and I’m a great believer in “a little of what you fancy does you good”, so if I feel like a steak in the pub I’ll have it. I really can’t cook though. I can’t do most things, if I’m honest, but cooking I definitely can’t do. I’m fine if I get one of those Marks & Spencer meals where you prick the lid and stick it in the microwave, but very little else.

To work off those pub lunches my all-time favourite Sunday treat is to get in the car with Sue, chuck the bicycles in the back and drive down to somewhere like Hove, because the coast is nice and flat. We’ll park up and then along we go in the lovely bike lanes on the promenade, laughing and joking and ringing our bells. My bike is an old one with high handlebars so I can stand up proud, with beautiful posture. Then we’ll cycle into Brighton and put the old bikes up against the fence, go and have a spot of lunch and cycle back. I tell you what, it’s fabulous. Later we’ll come home in the car, pootling along, taking the long route through Lewes and all those little Sussex towns rather than taking the quick road past Gatwick airport. If we fancy it we might buy my mum a chocolate éclair or something on the way back. I’m not saying I’d like to do that every weekend for the rest of my life, but I love it and could do it over and over again.

IN SHORT

Herbal tea or stiff drink?

I love peppermint tea.

What are you listening to?

I’ve just downloaded the greatest hits of the Drifters. Most of the music I like is by people who are dead.

Favourite item of clothing?

All the clothing that my wife would like to chuck in the bin. I like things when they become “distressed”, because then they are most comfortable.

What are you most proud of?

In life, my son. And in my career, I’m most proud of staying myself and not becoming something else.

Who do you most admire?

I really like history and all of my heroes are people like Nelson. I also admire reformists, people who have tried to make the world a better place.